A deal.
An exceedingly important act in which two parties exchange goods or benefits.
It was a very weighty word, and one heard often enough, but to be honest, this was far too sudden.
‘Now, at this point?’
It had been quite some time since I’d put the golem through its first practical test, and today I had just conducted a collision test as well.
But put another way, that was all.
I still hadn’t even made a proper bipedal golem.
I hadn’t produced anything that could truly be called a result yet.
And in the middle of all that, to suddenly talk about a contract…
As I was thinking that, my vision tinged slightly red.
“Ah. Damn.”
I had thought it had stopped for a moment while I was talking with the professors earlier, but it seemed the wound had opened again.
Just as I was wondering what to do, the other party suddenly reached out her hand.
“In the name of Mina Christa, Fifth Saintess who serves the goddess Saras, I perform a miracle of healing.”
With those words, light rose from her hand.
And the blood blurring my vision stopped.
While I was finding that a little fascinating, she folded her arms and spoke.
“Hehe, you’re quite lucky. My healing arts start from gold coins, you know.”
“Gold coins? What?”
Standards differed from person to person, but a single gold coin would be enough to eat potatoes for two whole months and still have some left over.
She had just used healing magic worth that much money on me?
“If this is some kind of forced sale, just know I’ll make you an unforgettable memory.”
I had no intention of going into debt over a healing spell I hadn’t even needed.
If she told me to pay up, I was ready to immediately use the self-defense item quietly sealed in my right pocket. While I was thinking that, she gave a faint laugh.
“…I do that when necessary, but not this time.”
So she did do that when necessary.
More importantly, why was it so expensive?
Looking at my face, she smiled even more gently.
“This is the healing art of the Fifth Saintess among the thirteen chosen by the goddess Saras, worshiped by thousands of believers. I have gifted you divine love and blessing.”
It was a smile with a strange air to it—benevolent, yet somehow self-indulgent.
But how should I put it?
“…If it’s just closing a wound, wouldn’t ordinary healing magic be enough?”
It was a bit of an extreme way to put it, but a scraped wound would heal on its own if left alone.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I didn’t need ordinary healing magic, let alone expensive healing magic.
And when I said that, the saintess’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“Well, yeah.”
The saintess’s tone changed.
“That’s exactly right. Basic healing arts are the same whether it’s the pope, a saintess, or an ordinary believer using them. It’s excessive for a scrape, isn’t it?”
The saintess’s expression changed.
Now, she had a slightly arrogant—and somewhat spirited—tone and face.
“Still, free is good, isn’t it? And don’t you somehow feel healthier now? I’m the Fifth Saintess, you know. Ahh, the noble saintess’s healing art! Of course it must be expensive! Of course you want to open your wallet!”
The saintess from moments ago—the one who seemed benevolent yet playful—was nowhere to be seen.
Now she looked spirited and arrogant.
And yet, for some reason, she didn’t seem unpleasant. Watching her exaggerated behavior, I could tell.
“…Your salesmanship is no ordinary thing.”
Should I call it image branding, or packaging?
Her skill at making something insignificant look impressive was no joke.
The fact that it hadn’t even felt unpleasant only made me more wary.
If there was no actual difference, then it could be called a scam, but looking at that attitude, it seemed hard to simply denounce it as one.
And judging from the fact that she had actually cast healing magic earlier, she did provide treatment in any case, so it was hard to call it a scam.
Whether with her previous attitude or her current one, if she said things like that while casting healing magic, naive people would think it was amazing and either accept her goodwill or open their wallets.
‘If I don’t keep my wits about me, she’ll suck me dry to the marrow.’
As I raised my guard against her, the woman’s eyebrow twitched again for a moment, and then she changed once more.
Her arrogance seemed to have increased, but she still didn’t look unpleasant. Her eyes were half-lidded now, her face showing annoyance.
“You’re thinking, ‘If I don’t keep my wits about me, she’ll suck me dry to the marrow.’”
For a moment, I wondered if she could read minds, but I judged that she couldn’t.
If she could, she would have noticed the potato sprout powder in my right pocket.
The special powder I had devised to repel barbarians like Mark, that is.
“So what do you want?”
“What do I want? Ah, right. Time is gold, but I’ve wasted far too much of it.”
The woman who claimed to be a saintess said that, then clasped her hands together and smiled.
This time, she was bright and lively, like some shop’s poster girl.
“It’s nothing much! I’m simply very interested in the structure of the golem that rammed into the academy gate and still remained relatively intact! Lord Aizen! I humbly ask that you sell me the technology behind that structure, along with the production rights and exclusive sales rights for the related golems!”
“I’m not selling.”
From the look of it, what this saintess wanted was something like the patent rights to the golem I had made.
I didn’t know whether patent rights existed here as well, but I couldn’t casually hand over important rights.
“You said time is gold. My time and effort went into making that golem. I have no intention of selling it.”
“What a shame. Then there will be no financial support or advance payment.”
I was momentarily surprised by the cold voice and the words financial support.
Then the saintess bared her teeth and smiled fiercely.
“…I have a rough idea. What you’re really trying to make is something else, isn’t it, Mr. Necromancy Prodigy?”
“Where did you hear such a ridiculous rumor?”
“Wouldn’t anyone think that if they saw you fiddling around with the bones of animals like chickens?”
Her face really kept changing, I thought.
Did she perhaps divide them into work mode and negotiation mode?
Or was she the type to keep changing masks depending on the person she was facing?
Even as I thought that, the saintess kept talking.
“Necromancy isn’t exactly in a position to be persecuted anymore, and people have started paying attention to it because it’s powerful against monsters. But that doesn’t really matter. What you made was a golem with two legs that moved in an unusual way. Heh. Isn’t that right?”
“Those aren’t legs! They’re tracks! Caterpillars!!”
I shouted without thinking.
A brief silence fell, and the saintess grinned.
This time, she had a relaxed expression with her eyes half-lidded.
“I see~ They’re not legs, they’re called tracks~.”
I had a feeling I had said something I shouldn’t have.
There was no fixing it.
The saintess, too, now had a somewhat serious, detective-like face.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s good information, but I had guessed as much. Let me guess. What you want is a giant rideable golem that moves on two legs, isn’t it?”
There was no way she wouldn’t realize it after coming this far.
And it wasn’t something I needed to deny.
“That’s right.”
I answered confidently.
The saintess grinned.
“It’s already sufficient as it is, yet you insist on bipedal movement. Fine. Is there a reason?”
“Because it’s cool.”
Silence.
A smile.
And then.
“…Pfft… ahahahaha!!”
She burst into laughter.
She truly was a saintess of many faces.
But soon, she smiled brightly.
“Sorry. I thought you’d at least hesitate a little, but for it to come out that quickly.”
Her voice somehow sounded drained.
More than that, the tension seemed to have left her shoulders.
Her eyes were playfully half-lidded, but her face was still sharply observing me.
What face was this one?
“So, what? Are you saying you’ll fund that research?”
In any case, her face and voice were just tools to her.
She had already been stating what she wanted since earlier.
The saintess nodded, then abruptly said,
“Mina.”
“Hm?”
“Mina Christa. Mina. Call me whatever you like.”
Her speech had grown much shorter.
And Mina spoke with a smile on her face.
“It’s simple. An investment. You make it. I feed you, sell it, and give you profit.”
She said it far too simply.
Seeing the slightly bewildered expression on my face, Mina smirked.
“As expected. This is the right answer.”
“Hey.”
“I’ll answer.”
Mina spread her arms and said,
“I’m a merchant. Is it strange for a merchant to invest in something that looks marketable?”
“You said you were a saintess.”
“A merchant before I’m a saintess. The Christa family is a house that rose from commoners to nobility by buying a barony. To begin with, I bought the position of saintess with money, so I’m not actually interested in it.”
Was that allowed?
Mina grinned.
“That doesn’t mean I lack skill. If I did, I’d be at the very bottom.”
“…So you had the skill and the money, and since you needed it, you purchased it. That’s what you mean.”
“And I need your technology.”
Mina spoke quietly.
“I’ll be honest. I was somewhat captivated by the golem that used that technology you called tracks. Carriages have fixed places they can go. They can never go over rough terrain. The same goes for carts. But with that size, if modified a little more, it could carry a lot of goods. It could go anywhere.”
“Laying roads might be more efficient.”
The words slipped out without much thought, but roads were a concept that existed here as well.
Mina shrugged and said,
“Places where roads have been laid are places where markets have already been developed. There’s a lot of interference there, too.”
Was that the hardship of a merchant?
I nodded at Mina’s words.
Then, as a test, I asked,
“What’s the real reason?”
“I want to take this opportunity to acquire about three more warehouses filled with gold coins, and keep increasing them in the future.”
After saying that, Mina half-opened her eyes and declared proudly,
“I like money.”
“I see.”
I thought for a moment.
To be honest, I was a little tempted.
Rather than saying a lot of vague things, it was better for her to be clear about it.
As I nodded, Mina spoke again.
“How about we set the contract terms like this?”
Perhaps out of habit, she stood up and began walking around the room.
And with each step she took, she spoke quietly.
“The Christa Trading Company shall be Party A, and Aizen shall be Party B. ‘Golems’ shall refer to all golems made by Party B, especially including rideable bipedal golems.”
“First. Party A shall invest all costs necessary for Party B’s golem production. The names and sales rights of the golems developed thereby and all derivative products shall belong to Party A.”
“Second. Party B must transfer sales rights only to Party A. Party A may modify and sell the golems provided by Party B.”
“Third. Profits shall be split seven to three.”
Mina walked for a moment, then grinned as she spoke.
“I just said whatever came to mind. What do you think?”
“No.”
I narrowed my eyes as I spoke.
“Sorry, but I have a prior agreement. Strictly speaking, that’s also why I came to the academy.”
“I figured as much. Since you’re not saying where, I suppose there’s a confidentiality clause too?”
I did not answer that.
To be honest, partly because of who the other party was, and partly because the conditions that side had offered weren’t bad for me.
Instead, I would have to take issue with something else.
“More importantly, seven to three? You call time gold, and now you’re saying my time is silver?”
“I’m handling the sales channels, the selection of buyers, all of that. I need at least that much.”
“I’m the one creating the product.”
I glared at Mina slightly as I spoke.
And Mina grinned.
“You.”
As if amused, she curled her fingers.
“You have so many things you want to make that you need a lot of money, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Mina seemed to think for a moment.
Then.
“In that case, we’ll have to change it.”
She smirked as she spoke.
“Second. Party B may sell design drafts and technical drafts to Party A, and Party A shall obtain the rights to modify and sell them based on those drafts.”
“Third. Party A shall support the costs and materials for Party B’s development and improvement of next-generation golems, shall obtain their sales rights, and must distribute the profits.”
Mina held out her hand as she spoke.
“With this, I’m your financier and your patron. Satisfied?”
Her eyes seemed to say first: isn’t this a good deal?
Mina’s red eyes were filled with greed, amusement, and adventure.
I was about to take her hand, but then I quietly said,
“Six to four. I won’t compromise.”
“You really push until the end.”
But Mina did not pull her hand back.
I took Mina’s hand as it was.
“Let’s make this work from here on out.”
Mina did not answer.
She merely wore a greedy smile.
****
To be honest, he was a troublesome opponent.
Even as they shook hands, Mina was thinking that inwardly.
‘I thought I was pretty good at reading people and adjusting to them.’
Changing masks to match the person she was dealing with was one of Mina’s skills.
But Aizen was an extremely difficult opponent.
‘I couldn’t get a read on him.’
He seemed fixated on only one thing, yet when she thought he couldn’t see anything around him, that wasn’t the case either.
When his head was working, he seemed ordinary, but when it came to what he wanted, he also seemed likely to take extreme actions without hesitation.
After weighing him for quite a while and failing to reach a conclusion, she had offered up a mask as a test.
And this was probably the correct answer.
‘Honesty, huh.’
Soon, Mina looked at Aizen and laughed inwardly.
‘I wonder if he’ll cause a lot of trouble from now on too.’
He was the kind of man who calmly tried to break down the academy gate, so he certainly wouldn’t do something as ordinary as simply attending the academy.
‘This will be fun.’
Whether she suffered a great loss or gained an enormous profit.
‘This guy will be fun.’
This opponent seemed as though he would be far too interesting.